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Meiji Guild
The Meiji Merchant Guild was founded in 1925 on Shima in the city of Shinokawa by Mutsuhito Meiji, head of a small union of dockworkers who gathered their funds and bought a warehouse of their own. Instead of dealing with the transportation of agricultural goods and fishing, as most had, they established their power in the region by going wholey with the Imperial Army during the Great War of Unification; transporting supplies and, eventually, building ships from 1927 to 1940. With Imperial aid, and some inter-guild gunboat diplomacy, much of the industries and commercial guilds on the eastern section of the island became one under the Meiji Company. With this, their skills as merchants and shipbuilders was solidified. Their military power, however, was secured when their flags flew high during an invasion by the mercenary squadrons onto the town of Olgenfall; opening a new front for the Imperial Army to march on Al-Sharit. Rumor states this act was never forgotten and the Supralan Empire used the guild’s mercenary arm and naval capabilities to assist in the, “Cleansing,” of the Prafian colonies; whether or not these genocidal operations are true, however, matters little. During the phase of the New Nobility, the Meiji Corporation never had a single board director ascend to nobility. While the guild would gladly work with the Empire there was still an amount of disdain coming from their roots as humble dock workers, not to mention the publicity would draw in unwanted discussion into their less-than-savory actions both during and after the War of Unification. During the 21st century, the corporation largely kept its head down. With no wars to fight there was little more to do than keep an eye on organized crime and keep up their front as the Pride of Shinokawa, so adored by the people that Oryou Meiji, current heiress of the company’s throne, is heralded as a “Champion of the People.” In 2132, under CEO Tohru Meiji, the Meiji Corporation stepped into high-gear and jumped onto intra-stellar mining and transportation. Their primary competitor was the Narasaki Guild of Shinokawa who specialized in the construction of spacecraft and experimental habitats which would be used by scientists to study robotics, agriculture, and aeronautics. Planetside, the Meiji Corporation could do very little, having entered the industry nearly a decade late, and would instead resort to careful deal making in the private sector as well as abusing their influence in the public sector to guarantee funding and special allowances to have, essentially, free reign. During the Kobayashi Station incident of 2160, one of the many habitats commissioned by the Imperial Research Guild (which became the Stellar Research Initiative in 2195), the Narasaki Guild was blamed for a landing bay incident with a Meiji Corporation transport vessel. One sloppily-done Imperial investigation and corporate merger later, the Meiji-Narasaki Corporation was formed; although due to PR issues, the Narasaki bit was removed with little reluctance by the Board of Directors. By the year 2200, the Meiji Corporation has grown in influence in the political field and has now had three CEOs appointed to the People’s Assembly and are lauded as champions of the common folk, despite their status as aristocrats and power akin to nobility. In 2210, they rebranded their political arm as the United Guilds for Democracy and continue to hold the majority of that power. Their primary leadership position is filled by Oryou Meiji, who succeeded her mother in 2194, as Chief Executive of Operations, but in truth the power is split evenly among the Inner Circle, the six highest ranking members of the Meiji Corporation who all fall under the title of Chairman/woman.